No matter how rich you are, at some point in your life you will be looking for a job. Simply having money does not satisfy most people in the world and the need to go out and do something will always prevail. So you are going to be making your CV, trying to match what your future employers are looking for and which of those skills you have.
As a student from another country, it is nearly impossible for me to live in England and not have a job. Not only I don't want to ask my parents to sacrifice themselves, but I also like being independent and getting money for myself. Through my first year I worked in a McDonalds close enough, but I decided to quit during the summer and try to find something else for my second year. It was a decision that I took and I do not regret it.
So imagine this, you are starting your second year and find yourself making your CV time and time again, trying to make it look good. You go around and give it away to all the establishments near you who are recruiting and, always with a smile, you hand in your CV. That was the scenario I faced both during my first and second year. I gave away CVs and I applied online time and time again. All the while, I had my friends beside me, helping me with the written process of it and telling me to keep going. They showed me many positions and one of them found a position at University this year and I decided to apply. Again, I had to adapt my CV to the position and what the University was looking for and after a few days of waiting, I got a reply saying I was invited to attend an interview. We were all happy and ecstatic to know that.
Both of my friends helped me with the outfit choices and with some new clothes I nervously walked into the room where the interview was. The job I applied for was Student Recruitment Ambassador. The interview was done in groups. Me and a few more people talked to one of the interviewers, we answered questions as to what we thought about both the university and what customer service is. I answered as good I could, being as truthful as possible while still being myself. As someone who is usually nervous to speak up in groups and interact with new people I declared the whole experience a success, both when we were doing a tour of the University and were asked to describe a certain place and when we what to answer questions future students or parents would ask. I could see that the other people in my group were older than me, they were doing a PG course. They had already done the Student Ambassador job. They were more sure of themselves. I shook it off and kept on being myself while not panicking as they had more experience. When I walked out of the room I was confident that I gave my best and the only way I could have done as well as them would be if I had the same experience as they do. I came out in peace with myself.
Today, two days later, I checked my email every half an hour, sometimes every thirty seconds even, to make sure that I had a reply. I was a nervous wreck, afraid of the answer. It took until 6 pm to find out their answer. I didn't get the job. Was I sad? Yes. Was it like one of those moments in the movies in which you can see the whole world shattering apart? Kind of, I felt so disappointed, like I wasn't good enough to get this job even though I know that I could have gotten it if the circumstances were different. Did I die because of this? Absolutely not. I know that I can get another job, this doesn't mean I'm not good for any other job. I'm just not ready for this one yet.
When I told my friends who gave me so much support, they gave me just as much (if not even more) after they heard about it. Both of them took it upon themselves to tell me that they were just as sad as I am and they made sure that I know that they will keep on helping me find something. Before one of them mentioned that I should treat this as a learning opportunity, I already knew I was going to ask for feedback and see what didn't work out for them. I know it's only fair to ask what was wrong, not to be sad and simply keep on living my life. My friends will still be there for me to help me out no matter what and I really owe it to them. If I was in this situation alone I would sulk for a week, probably give up on finding a job and simply deciding to stay home for a week.
What did I learn with this experience?
Keep going. No matter what you are told, the world doesn't end. There's more jobs out there.
Friends are everything. Keep them close to you when you need their support.
Don't be afraid of interviews. You will have to go to interviews every time you apply for a job, treat it like a normal thing and don't give it too much thought. Do. Not. Panic. You can do it, it's just a formality for getting to know you as a person and seeing if what you said in your CV about yourself adds up to your person.
To me, this is the real world. Where you have to fend for yourself and make sure you can do it on your own, only with the support of those you decided to trust. So yeah. If you've had a job before, you already know how the world turns and how you never thought it would be so difficult. The biggest challenge in life is getting over disappointment, you need to figure out how to get over it as fast as you can. If you are in this position, welcome to the real world.
See you guys soon! :)
As a student from another country, it is nearly impossible for me to live in England and not have a job. Not only I don't want to ask my parents to sacrifice themselves, but I also like being independent and getting money for myself. Through my first year I worked in a McDonalds close enough, but I decided to quit during the summer and try to find something else for my second year. It was a decision that I took and I do not regret it.
So imagine this, you are starting your second year and find yourself making your CV time and time again, trying to make it look good. You go around and give it away to all the establishments near you who are recruiting and, always with a smile, you hand in your CV. That was the scenario I faced both during my first and second year. I gave away CVs and I applied online time and time again. All the while, I had my friends beside me, helping me with the written process of it and telling me to keep going. They showed me many positions and one of them found a position at University this year and I decided to apply. Again, I had to adapt my CV to the position and what the University was looking for and after a few days of waiting, I got a reply saying I was invited to attend an interview. We were all happy and ecstatic to know that.
Both of my friends helped me with the outfit choices and with some new clothes I nervously walked into the room where the interview was. The job I applied for was Student Recruitment Ambassador. The interview was done in groups. Me and a few more people talked to one of the interviewers, we answered questions as to what we thought about both the university and what customer service is. I answered as good I could, being as truthful as possible while still being myself. As someone who is usually nervous to speak up in groups and interact with new people I declared the whole experience a success, both when we were doing a tour of the University and were asked to describe a certain place and when we what to answer questions future students or parents would ask. I could see that the other people in my group were older than me, they were doing a PG course. They had already done the Student Ambassador job. They were more sure of themselves. I shook it off and kept on being myself while not panicking as they had more experience. When I walked out of the room I was confident that I gave my best and the only way I could have done as well as them would be if I had the same experience as they do. I came out in peace with myself.
Today, two days later, I checked my email every half an hour, sometimes every thirty seconds even, to make sure that I had a reply. I was a nervous wreck, afraid of the answer. It took until 6 pm to find out their answer. I didn't get the job. Was I sad? Yes. Was it like one of those moments in the movies in which you can see the whole world shattering apart? Kind of, I felt so disappointed, like I wasn't good enough to get this job even though I know that I could have gotten it if the circumstances were different. Did I die because of this? Absolutely not. I know that I can get another job, this doesn't mean I'm not good for any other job. I'm just not ready for this one yet.
When I told my friends who gave me so much support, they gave me just as much (if not even more) after they heard about it. Both of them took it upon themselves to tell me that they were just as sad as I am and they made sure that I know that they will keep on helping me find something. Before one of them mentioned that I should treat this as a learning opportunity, I already knew I was going to ask for feedback and see what didn't work out for them. I know it's only fair to ask what was wrong, not to be sad and simply keep on living my life. My friends will still be there for me to help me out no matter what and I really owe it to them. If I was in this situation alone I would sulk for a week, probably give up on finding a job and simply deciding to stay home for a week.
What did I learn with this experience?
Keep going. No matter what you are told, the world doesn't end. There's more jobs out there.
Friends are everything. Keep them close to you when you need their support.
Don't be afraid of interviews. You will have to go to interviews every time you apply for a job, treat it like a normal thing and don't give it too much thought. Do. Not. Panic. You can do it, it's just a formality for getting to know you as a person and seeing if what you said in your CV about yourself adds up to your person.
To me, this is the real world. Where you have to fend for yourself and make sure you can do it on your own, only with the support of those you decided to trust. So yeah. If you've had a job before, you already know how the world turns and how you never thought it would be so difficult. The biggest challenge in life is getting over disappointment, you need to figure out how to get over it as fast as you can. If you are in this position, welcome to the real world.
See you guys soon! :)
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